North Yorkshire MP raises concerns over dental access in the House of Commons

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North Yorkshire MP, Kevin Hollinrake, raised concerns over dental access in the region in the House of Commons recently.

Mr Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton, addressed the house on Tuesday 19th October, highlighting access issues in his constituency and the county as a whole. Mr Hollinrake said that the current situation is “difficult” with no practices in the area accepting new NHS patients.

Health secretary, Sajid Javid, acknowledged that there were issues across England at the moment and explained that the pandemic had contributed to significant treatment backlogs.

Mr Javid praised the work of dentists under challenging circumstances and confirmed that he was looking into making changes to infection control and considering ‘further measures’ to alleviate pressure and enable dental teams to see more patients.

At present, most practices are working at a reduced capacity to allow for time between patients and encourage social distancing, which is limiting appointment provision.

Mr Hollinrake stressed that he was “very concerned” about the lack of treatment availability across North Yorkshire and added that he was in contact with health ministers to try and identify solutions and was awaiting further discussions.

The British Dental Association claims that there were issues in North Yorkshire long before the pandemic struck and urged the government to act urgently to plug gaps and increase capacity so that dentists across England can treat more patients.

The BDA, along with the chair of Healthwatch, recently sent an open letter to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, encouraging him to ensure that funds are made available to improve access to NHS dentistry and provide support for dentists as a priority.

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